Urges Medicaid expansion for thousands of Virginians in 'coverage gap'

NEWPORT NEWS — To mark the fourth anniversary of the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare, U.S. Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott stopped by the Community Free Clinic in Newport News on Monday.

The son of a surgeon and an early advocate of the bill, Scott, D-Newport News, lauded the changes the law has brought in health care, from providing guaranteed coverage for those with pre-existing conditions to allowing young people to stay on their parents' plan to age 26. He listed a litany of improvements in the provision of affordable, accessible care, including early screening for chronic diseases that allows for effective treatment, and annual caps on spending for consumers.

"The ACA changed all that," Scott said, blaming opposition to the bill on misinformation. "There has been blatant misrepresentation. Once the facts get out there, people will support it," he said.

Health activist Gaylene Kanoyton, who has conducted 17 enrollment events across the state and has 10 more planned before the March 31 deadline for insurance coverage in 2014, echoed his sentiments. "We see the success stories. People would change their minds. It's real, it's a human rights issue. We have got to get everyone enrolled, particularly our young people," she said.

Alison Flowers, a college graduate laid off from her job last year, told how she just obtained insurance through the federally run state marketplace, http://www.healthcare.gov, at a low premium. "My auto insurance is way higher," she said, expressing relief that she could get medical care for her high school son who has a pre-existing condition.

Scott emphasized the need for Virginia to expand Medicaid to make the health law work as intended. "It was written on the expectation that every state would expand it," he said. Without expansion, almost 400,000 Virginians fall into a "coverage gap" — earning too much to qualify for traditional Medicaid and not enough to qualify for subsidies through the state's marketplace.

"Eighty five percent of our patients are under 100 percent of the federal poverty level, living on less than $11,400 a year," said Golden Bethune-Hill, founder of the Newport News clinic that serves only the uninsured. Several patients told how the free care they receive has allowed them to regain their health, avoid emergency room care and return to work. The clinic has enrolled 2,000 patients since it opened in November 2010.

"Medicaid expansion is truly a life and death decision," said Janet Howard, the clinic's executive director. "These are people who are lost to the health-care system."

Scott detailed additional effects of expanding Medicaid, such as more federal funding for mental health care through local community service boards, and increased support for hospitals, including the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, which will lose $125 million in federal payments for charity care but would pick up around $200 million with the expansion of Medicaid.

Though Scott supports straight expansion of Medicaid, he said coverage is the most important factor and the state Senate's Marketplace Virginia plan would provide that.

To bolster his argument, Scott noted that expanding Medicaid would provide 30,000 jobs in the state while releasing dollars from the state's general fund. "We've already paid the taxes and now we're not getting the benefits," he said.